Fungi have emerged as versatile biotechnological platforms for addressing environmental challenges with potential co-benefits for human health. Among them, Pleurotus ostreatus stands out for its ligninolytic enzyme systems (notably laccases), capacity to valorize lignocellulosic residues, and ability to form functional mycelial materials. We conducted an evidence-mapped review, based on a bibliometric analysis of the Scopus corpus (2001–2025; 2085 records), to characterize research fronts and practical opportunities in environmental remediation and sustainable bioprocesses involving P. ostreatus. The mapped literature shows sustained growth and global engagement, with prominent themes in: (a) oxidative transformation of phenolic compounds, dyes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; (b) biodegradation/bioconversion of agro-industrial residues into value-added products; and (c) development of bio-based materials and processes aligned with the circular bioeconomy. We synthesize how these strands translate to real-world contexts, reducing contaminant loads, closing nutrient loops, and enabling low-cost processes that may indirectly reduce exposure-related risks. Key translational gaps persist: standardization of environmental endpoints, scale-up from laboratory to field, performance in complex matrices, life-cycle impacts and cost, ecotoxicological safety, and long-term monitoring. A practical agenda was proposed that prioritizes field-scale demonstrations with harmonized protocols, integration of life-cycle assessment and cost metrics, data sharing, and One Health frameworks linking environmental gains with plausible health co-benefits. In conclusion, P. ostreatus is a tractable platform organism for sustainable remediation and bio-manufacturing. This evidence map clarifies where the field is mature and where focused effort can accelerate the impact of future research.
Agricultural performance is often interpreted through agronomic inputs and technological progress; however, the translation of knowledge into production depends on the structural environments in which food systems operate. This study examined the association between food-security-related publication activity and crop production across global income settings from 2000 to 2025, while testing whether governance, health-system, and financial indicators modify that association. A longitudinal ecological panel was constructed, integrating 61,158 Scopus-indexed peer-reviewed articles on food security and related dimensions of healthy food access and availability with 23 crop production indicators grouped into staple, horticultural, and commodity domains. Income-stratified regression models were followed by hierarchical mixed-effects models and moderator screening. In exploratory stratified models, 67 of 92 income-specific associations reached nominal significance; however, only 5 of those 67 associations (7.5%) remained statistically significant after multilevel modelling and false discovery rate correction. Robust associations were concentrated in selected staple and horticultural outcomes, whereas most commodity indicators lost significance after hierarchical adjustment. Structural moderators related to territorial control, corruption, healthy life expectancy, health researcher density, healthcare access and quality, and official development assistance shifted the conditional slopes linking publication activity to crop output. These findings do not support a uniform linear relationship between publication growth and production volume. Instead, they suggest that the alignment between research ecosystems and agricultural output is structurally conditioned and likely mediated by institutional capacity, health-system resilience, and implementation environments. The ecological design, the use of publication counts as an indirect proxy, and the reliance on production volume rather than yield or efficiency should be considered when interpreting these results.
Background: Environmental degradation and climate-related territorial transformation are increasingly recognized as social determinants of adolescent mental health. However, empirical evidence on solastalgia among young people in the Global South remains limited. This study aimed to examine psychosocial, health-related, school-related, family, and territorial factors associated with solastalgia among school-attending adolescents in Colombia. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional analytical study was conducted between August 2025 and February 2026 with 1005 adolescents from three Colombian territories undergoing different forms of environmental transformation: an urban setting affected by construction-related change, a semiurban setting affected by agricultural transformation, and a rural setting affected by extractivism. Solastalgia was assessed using the Brief Solastalgia Scale. Psychosocial, health-related, school-related, and contextual variables were measured using validated or locally supported instruments. Bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression, and non-parametric territorial comparisons were conducted. Results: Solastalgia differed significantly across territorial groups, with the semiurban group showing the highest mean ranks for solastalgia, followed by the rural and urban groups. However, territorial comparisons showed heterogeneous psychosocial and health-related patterns rather than a uniform gradient across all outcomes. Older age was independently associated with higher solastalgia scores. In the final regression model, solastalgia was independently associated with resilience, substance use screening, suicide risk, age, physical health status, conflict resolution, concern about climate change, and territorial origin. The model explained 42.9% of the variance in solastalgia scores. Territorial origin contributed a small but statistically significant additional proportion of explained variance. Conclusions: Adolescent solastalgia in Colombia is not reducible to individual psychological vulnerability. It reflects a broader socioecological configuration involving emotional distress, perceived health, psychosocial resources, school-related experiences, concern about climate change, and place-based environmental transformation. These findings support the need for school-based and community-based public health responses that integrate adolescent mental health care with environmental protection, cultural safety, and territorial justice.
Micronutrient deficiencies remain a persistent challenge to global health and food security, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where evidence-based strategies are urgently needed. Biofortification of staple crops has been promoted as a complementary intervention to supplementation and food fortification, but its effective implementation requires locally relevant studies. Such evidence is essential because the performance and adoption of biofortified crops depend on context-specific factors, including crop varieties, soil micronutrient dynamics, dietary patterns, cultural acceptability, and bioavailability, which limit the transferability of findings across settings. This perspective examines whether countries with the highest micronutrient burdens generate sufficient local research to inform biofortification policy decisions. We conducted a bibliometric mapping of peer-reviewed literature indexed in Scopus and compared country-level publication counts with indicators of iodized salt coverage, zinc deficiency, and childhood anemia, which were selected because they are prioritized metrics in global health and food security. From 776 eligible articles, most publications originated from a small group of high- and middle-income countries, whereas regions facing the greatest nutritional burdens, including parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, contributed little to the scientific output. Countries with low iodized-salt coverage, high zinc deficiency, or childhood anemia above 40% frequently showed zero or minimal publications. This misalignment suggests that countries facing the greatest nutritional vulnerabilities may be underrepresented in the indexed scientific literature. These findings highlight the value of further strengthening research participation and visibility in high-burden settings to ensure that the evidence base more accurately reflects global needs.
This study proposes a critical resilience model for children and youth in Latin American polycrisis contexts, marked by overlapping adversities including poverty, environmental degradation, armed conflict, and institutional abandonment. In this cross-sectional, sequential mixed-methods study, we combined standardized instruments with culturally grounded focusgroups in Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia's Chocó region (n = 187, aged 7-29). Quantitative findings reveal a paradox: high resilience scores despite severe structural deprivation-food insecurity, coercive parenting, violence exposure. Regression analysis identified both risk and protective factors, highlighting complex relationships between adversity and adaptive responses. Narratives emphasized resilience not as passive adjustment but as collective resistance, spiritual balance, and political agency, what participants termed "to live is to resist." We therefore distinguish resilience from resistance, political agency, and habituated endurance. Rather than rejecting resilience per se, we critique its depoliticized use: in contexts of polycrisis, standardized resilience scores may register persistence under structural harm without adequately differentiating flourishing from normalized suffering. This convergence challenges dominant individualistic resilience conceptions and supports a relational, culturally situated framework informed by Latin American critical theory. Together, the findings support a relational, culturally situated, and justice-oriented understanding of resilience and call for mental health strategies that strengthen collective life while addressing the structural roots of suffering.
